Wire-stretcher.



C. G. SGHWARZ.

WIRE STRETGHER. APPLIGATION rum) JULY 22. 190B.

Patented Dec. 15,1908.

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G. G. SCHWARZ.

WIRE STRETGHER.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 22. 1908.

Patented D80. 15, 1908. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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CHARLES G. SGHWARZ, OF REAMSVILLE, KANSAS.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 15, 1908. I

Application filed July 22, 1908. Serial No. 444,729.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. SOHWARZ, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Reamsville, in the county of Smith and State ofKansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWire-Stretchers, of which the-following is a specification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in wirestretchers, and has for its main object to simplify and improve theconstruction generally of that class of stretchers adapted to beconnected to a post of the fence so as to be braced by said post, and todraw the, strands of the wire past the post in a taut condition so thatthey may be securely fastened to such post, and held in suchtautoondition.

My invention briefly described, comprises a frame member having apair ofoutwardly inclined arms the free ends of which are pointed and areprovided with means by which the arms can be secured to a fence post, asby staples, or equivalent means. In the adaptation of my inventiondesigned for the stretching of what is generally termed as Woven wire,the frame member is provided with an eye through which a stretchingscrew is arranged tooperate, a nut being mounted on the screw to beturned by a suitable wrench for operating the screw, the lat ter beingconnected at its inner end by tightening chains to a clamp, to whichlatter the woven wire is connected.

In the adaptation of the invention as designed for stretching a singlewire, means are provided for clamping such single wire, and thestretching screw is arranged to operate through the eye of the framemember in the same manner as in the adaptation of the invention to thestretching of woven wire; in lieu of the nut and wrench for operatingthe stretching screw, the same is actuated b means of bevel gears and acrank, one of suc bevel gears being arranged on the screw, and the otherbevel gear and the crank being rotatably supported from the eye of theframe member. I

The invention will be hereinafter more fully described and thenparticularly claimed, and in describing the invention in detail,reference will be had to the accom anying drawings forming a part ofthis app ication,

and wherein like numerals of reference will be employed to designatelike parts through.- out the several views, in which Figure 1 is anelevation of a wire stretcher constructed in accordance with myinvention, and adapted for the stretching of woven wire, the stretcherbeing shown applied to the wire in position for stapling the wire to apost. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the stretcher in position on a postand connected to the wire. Fig. 3 is an end view of the stretcher withthe stretching screw in cross section. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of thedevice as adapted to the stretching of a single wire. Fig. 5 is a toplanview thereof. Fig. 6 is a cross sectiona view of the stretching screwin the form of device shown in Figs. 4 and 5, showing one endof thebearing for said screw, the remainder of the parts being omitted.

To put my invention into practice, in the adaptation thereof shownin'Figs. 1 to 3, incluslve, I provide a frame member A preferably formedfrom a single piece of material, such as a metal bar or rod. The arms 77of this member A, are provided with pointed ends 8 which are ada ted totake into the fence 0st 9 to whic the stretcher is attache The bar orrod from which the member A is formed is bent laterally at the other endof the arms 77 to form an eye 10, through which the stretching screw 11is designed to reciprocate. The said screw 11 is rovided on its innerend with a head 12 havmg hooks 14. The screw is actuated so as to movethe samethrough the eye 10, in this form of construction, b means of anut 15 which can be operated y any suitable form of wrench, though Ipreferably employ in practice, a spanner wrench 16 of the type ereinshown, the same being rovided with the op ositely projecting hand cs 17,as this form oIwrench enables me to apply a pipe to the handles so as tomake the same of any desired length, and thus effectively increase theleverage. Ina plying the stretcher to the post, the pointe' ends 8 areforced into the post, so that the lips 8 carried by said arms 7 at theends thereof will abut against the post 9 as clearly seen inFig. 1 ofthe drawings. These lips maybe made as an integral part of the arms 7 orthey may be separate and suitably fastened thereto, as may be desired.They tion.

are so positioned with respect to the extreme outer ends of the arms,that they lie a slight distance back of such extreme outer ends, inorder that the said outer ends will penetrate the post to the desireddistance, prior to the lips 8 engaging such post. After being positionedas shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the frame member is attached to thepost 9 by means such as sta les 18. In order to further support and racethe stretcher when placed in position on the post as shown in Figs. 1and 2, I provide an anchoring and brace rod 19, rovided at its outer endwith an eye 20, and at its inner end with a hook 21, which latterengages in a link 22 carried by the frame member A adjacent the lateralextending eye 10 of such member.

' The stretcher is connected to the woven wire by means of a suitableclamp, in this instance shown as comprising two stri s or plates 2324respectively, the plate 24 eing preferably of less width than the plate23 but preferably of a softer metal than the plate 23. These two platesare connected together by bolts 25, the woven wire being placed againstplate 23, plate or bar 24 then placed against the wire, and the twoplates or bars tightly clam ed on the wire by means of the bolts 25 andt e nuts on said bolts. The wider plate or bar 23 is provided with twoor more grab links 26 through which the connection chains 27 are passed,the grab links 26 being so designed, as seen in Fig. 2, that a link ofthe chain will enter a narrow portion of the grab link, and thus holdthe chain without any other fastening, when such chain or chains arestretched taut. The other ends of these chains are preferably providedwith rings 28 so that the chains may be engaged and disengaged from thehooks 14 of the stretching screw in a ready and easy manner.

In the ada tation of the device designed for the stretc ing of a singlewire, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, C indicates the framemember, the arms 7 of which are pointed and provided with lips in thesame manner as above described for the arms of the device shown in Figs.1 to 3. The same reference numerals have therefore been applied to likeparts in this form of construc- The stretching screw 11 in this form ofconstruction operates through alined holes made in the ends of a boxingor hearing 29, the end walls of which lie at right angles to the arms 7,and which boxing or bearing constitutes an equivalent part to the eye 10of the device shown in Figs. 1 to 3. The stretching screw 11 in thisconstruction is preferably slotted on opposite sides as shown at 30 toreceive lugs 30 (see Fig. 6) carried by the end walls of the boxing orbearing 29, in a manner well known. This construction is designed toprevent rotating of the screw in the end walls of the boxing or bearing,and

the causing of said screw to be reciprocated without rotation. At itsinner end, the said screw carries one or more wire clamps of anyappbroved or desired form, that herein shown em odying a late 31attached to the end of the screw and? provided a proximately mid way ofits length, in a inement with the screw, with a fixed aw 32 providedwith gripping faces on its opposite edges, the'said plate 31 havingivoted thereto two ivoted jaws 33 provide with suitable hand es 34.

Mounted on the boxing or bearing 29 is a stud 35 constituting a bearingfor the mounting thereon of a bevel gear wheel 36, rovided with anoperating crank 37, the said wheel and crank being held on the stud inany desired manner, as by a nut 38. The said bevel wheel 36 is designedto engage and mesh with a bevel wheel 39 mounted on the screw 11. Itwill be evident that as the wheel 36 is rotated by means of the crank37, that its meshing with the wheel 39 will impart a rotary movement tothe latter and cause the stretching screw 30 to be drawn through the eyeof the frame, and the wire being stretched having previously beenengaged with one of the jaws carried by the inner end of the screw, suchwire is drawn taut against the face of the post, to which it may besecured by stapling in the ordinary manner. That the screw 11 may bemoved through the eye by hand to bring the same to a desired positionbefore beginning operation, I preferably provide a link 40 in the outerend of the screw which can be used as a handle for such movement of thescrew, and also acts as a stop to prevent the screw being turned out ofthe wheel 39. With this form of device, I also employ the anchoringrod19, the hook end 21 of which is engaged with an eye 22 carried by theframe member, and the eye end 20 of which receives one arm of a staple41 which secures the anchoring rod to the post 9.

In order to adapt the stretcher to the stretching of wire on either sideof the post, I provide the same with additional clamps 42 which may beof the same type as the clamps 323,3 above described and hence need notbe shown in detail. shown in this adaptation of the invention isparticularly advantageous for use in splicing roken wire between posts.One end of the wire can be connected to one of the clamps 42, the otherend engaged by the clamps carried by the screw, and the wire drawn so asto overlap the ends to admit of such splicing.

The general principle and operation of the device in both forms of theconstruction it is to be noted, is the same and it is believed thegeneral operation thereof as well as the construction will be fullyunderstood without further description in detail.

In the practice of the invention it will of course be understood thatvarious changes may==be made in thedetails of construction The devicewithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope thereofas claimed.

What I claim is 1. In a wire stretcher, a frame member havin arms thefree ends of which are pointed an have curved lips projecting therefromadjacent the pointed ends, the-said member having a laterally-extendingeye at the opposite end thereof, a screw working through said eye, meansfor connecting a wire with said screw, and means for actuating thescrew.

2. A wire stretcher comprising a frame member having arms which at theirfree ends are pointed, lips carried by said arms adjacent said pointedends, a laterally-extending eye at the other end of said arms, astretching-screw working through said eye, means for connecting saidscrew to the Wire to be stretched, and means for actuating said screw.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES G. SOI-IWARZ.

Witnesses:

.J. O. RUssELL,

T. P. RYAN.

